Break Even Analysis – The mathematical calculation showing where a business’s sales equal its costs and expenses. Above the break-even point, a business is profitable. Below break-even, the business is operating at a loss.

Bull Market – A market that is trending up. The opposite of a bear market.

Burn Rate – The speed at which an unprofitable business is spending its capital.

Business Cycle – The economic “boom and bust” cycle between inflationary boom and deflationary bust.

Capability – is the ability to perform actions. As it applies to human capital, capability is the sum of expertise (knowledge, wisdom) and capacity (time and physical ability).

Capital – the buildings and equipment required to produce other goods and services. It also refers to the money saved to buy these things.

Capitalism – A term coined by Karl Marx to describe the situation where capital is in private hands. It generally refers to an economy with free markets.

Co-creation – Collaborating or working with others in acts of creation

Commodities – Raw materials, natural resources or basic materials traded on an exchanges called commodity markets. These materials are undifferentiated (i.e. one unit of a commodity is the same as any other).

Commoditized – The situation where goods and services are undifferentiated from others.

Community – A group of interacting people, living in some sort of proximity (i.e., in space, time, shared interests or relationship). It is social unit larger than a household that shares common values and has social cohesion.

Contract – An agreement between 2 or more parties that is enforceable (there are legal remedies it the agreement is not honored or breached.) It is rare for a contract NOT to be in writing.

Deflation – the money supply is decreasing.

De-industrialization – The process of shifting the risks of owning plant and equipment to others. It is also called restructuring,sale-leaseback, outsourcing and partnering.

Depression – An economic period where business activity actually decreases. A more severe version of recession.

Disaster recovery – A set of capabilities designed to recover from a catastrophic event.

Earnings – Business income. It is precisely defined in Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.

Ecology – A highly complex, interrelationship of living things.

Economy/Economics – A highly complex, interrelationship of people and their exchange of goods and services. The study of the same. Statists would disagree, believing the economy is a machine that can be fine-tuned without damaging the individual participants in the economy.

Economic Entity – An individual or group (company, family business, firm, organization, or nation) that engages in exchange with other entities. It is typically the subject of accounting reports.

Entity – An object, person, organization, process or other thing that that has a discrete, separate existence.

Entrepreneur – Someone who searches for opportunities in the form of unsatisfied demands, then takes the initial risk to supply them.

Equity – The portion of a property held free and clear by the owner.

Exchange – the trading of goods and services on terms that are agreed upon by all parties involved.

Expansion – The situation where the economy as a whole is growing. It is the opposite of a recession or depression.

Factors of Production – Land, Labor, Capital and Entrepreneurship.

Fascism – The belief that truth is just a matter of opinion, so right and wrong is simply matters of opinion. Power holders should do whatever appears necessary, no limits and no exceptions.

Fashion – a popular style or practice, especially in clothing, foot wear, or accessories. The prevailing style in behavior and activities are fashion as well.

Federal Reserve – the Central Bank of the United Statues.

Fiscal Policy – Government spending

Fixed Costs – Overhead, or expenses that cannot be readily reduced. These opposite are variable costs which change as sales rates change.

Fractional Reserve Banking – a form of banking where banks maintain only a fraction of the customer’s deposits. Funds deposited into a bank are mostly lent out, and a bank keeps only a fraction of the funds as reserves. Some of the funds lent out are subsequently deposited with another bank, increasing deposits at that second bank and allowing further lending. Since most bank deposits are treated as money in their own right, this practice increases the money supply.

Gratitude – Being thankful

Gross Domestic Product – The total goods and services produced by a nation.

Guru – one who is regarded as having great knowledge, wisdom, and authority in a certain area, and who uses it to guide others (teacher).

Inflation – an increase in the money supply.

Information Age – Also known as the Computer or Digital Age. The era of human history characterized by a shift to an economy based in digital information. There have been 3 generations of this Age (so far). The first generation began around 1970 with the advent of the Unix operating system and the TCP/IP networking model. The second generation built on these technologies with the introduction of the World Wide Web and the Web Browser. The third (current) generation is characterized by Social Media and nearly ubiquitous access to the Internet.

Law of Attraction – the metaphysical idea that likes attract. As you become more open to the higher vibrational levels, the things you need and the people that can help you are naturally drawn to you.

Labor – work produced by people. Also, labor unions.

Land – In economic terms, not just real estate but the crops that grow on the land, the buildings/improvements on the land and the resources that may be extracted from the land.

Law – The codified rules of human behavior. Natural law and political law are discussed at length in the chapter on law.

Leader – One who leads others by example

Leverage – The use of debt in business or investment

Liberty – The political and social situation where everyone INCLUDING THE GOVERNMENT generally follows the 2 Laws.

Long term – The expected length of time that the factors creating a forecast are expected to remain valid.

Multinodal change – The situation where several significant, seemingly unrelated changes are happening at the same time.

Natural rights – Privileges that are not dependent on any government grant and are considered inalienable to all human beings.

Paradigm shift – A change in the basic assumptions, or paradigms, within the ruling theory of science. It is in contrast to his idea of normal science. The term is used in numerous non-scientific contexts to describe a profound change in a fundamental model or perception of events.

Personal Responsibility – Keeping your agreements and producing no more than you consume or destroy.

Personal Vision – The intent for an individual’s life. It should describe how the individual plans to be of service while respecting the boundaries of humanity and nature. This is the subject of Become a Change Agent: Part Two.

Price – The monetary value of a good or service. Ask price is what the supplier is willing to accept in exchange for the good or service. Bid price is the amount the potential purchaser is willing to pay.

Recession – A slowing in the rate of growth of business activity. Less severe than depression.

Rent – the fee paid for temporary use of something.

Resilience – The ability to return to a steady state even after great stress has been placed upon the entity. In materials science, it is also known as elastic potential energy.

Scientific Law – the verbal or mathematical expressions of natural law that are learned through observation, study and experimentation.